How to revitalise the Eastern ports

The Eastern ports include major ones: Port Harcourt, Calabar, Warri and Onne. The smaller ports are Koko, Burutu and Sapele. Head of Operations, Ports and Terminal Operators Nigeria Ltd (PTOL), a company based in Port Harcourt, Alhaji Ahmed Abdullahi said the shallow navigational channels had been a major constraint to the Eastern ports. Abdullahi spoke […]

The Eastern ports include major ones: Port Harcourt, Calabar, Warri and Onne. The smaller ports are Koko, Burutu and Sapele.

Head of Operations, Ports and Terminal Operators Nigeria Ltd (PTOL), a company based in Port Harcourt, Alhaji Ahmed Abdullahi said the shallow navigational channels had been a major constraint to the Eastern ports.

Abdullahi spoke at a one-day seminar organised recently in Port Harcourt by the Maritime Reporters’ Association of Nigeria (MARAN).

He said that the draught of the Port Harcourt port, presently at 9.3 metres should be dredged to 11 metres to make room for bigger ships.

He also said that the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) had not been able to effectively assist the terminal operators in providing adequate support services like tug boats for piloting ships in and out of the ports.

The General Manager, ECM Terminals, Calabar, Mr Kingsley Iheanacho, said that the Calabar Port, with a draught of 6.4 metres, was too shallow.

Iheanacho said that NPA should conclude the dredging of the Calabar Port that it started in 2007, to allow container vessels to come into the port.

The Port Manager of Port Harcourt Port, Mr Dele Alabi, who was represented by its Traffic Manager, Mrs Eunice Ezeoke, said that a number of dredging activities were ongoing along the channels.

He said this would soon make room for container vessels to operate in the region.

Alabi, however, said that another problem was the encroachment on NPA land by the host communities.

He said that the problem had hindered port expansion as the host communities continue to claim that they were owners of the land.

The port manager said that both the roads and railways servicing the ports should be rehabilitated.

This, according to him, will link other states in the region to the ports and boost the exportation of agricultural commodities through the Eastern ports.

“Private companies/individuals should be encouraged to go into developing the rail system from the ports to the hinterlands for massive movement of goods,” Alabi said.

He explained that private investors could partner with the government and financial institutions to develop the rail system so that goods could arrive their destinations on time.

The port manager said that other challenges in Port Harcourt port were multiple government agencies and insecurity along the channels.

He suggested the establishment of the Nigerian Coast Guard to check piracy and other illegal midstream activities in the nation’s waters.

Alabi said that if the port management could be assisted in tackling the challenges of bad roads, porous security along the water channels and development of rail lines, the port would witness economic prosperity.

The Chairman, Board of Trustees of Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Chief Henry Njoku attributed the non-patronage of the Eastern ports to inconsistent maritime policies and lack of facilities.

Njoku said that the use of Export Processing Zone (EPZ) in Calabar should be encouraged for manufacturing of goods for export.

According to him, exporters of cocoa, rubber, palm kernel and other agricultural commodities should be encouraged to make use of the Calabar port.

An official of a destination inspection service provider, Mr Emmanuel Oyebode, listed the global economic downturn, Niger-Delta crisis, cumbersome import clearance procedures, and high freight costs as some of the factors causing low activities in the Eastern ports.

Oyebode said that destination inspection procedures required form M applications to be sent to Lagos and the Risk Assessment Reports (RARs) to also be sent to head offices of banks.

On how to open up the Eastern ports, Iheanacho suggested that government should further concession support services like towage and maintenance dredging.

According to him, channel dredging, maintenance and wreck removals should be handled as matters of urgent and critical economic importance and not subjected to tedious bureaucratic and legislative processes.

He also advised that there should be a “speedy” creation of an independent regulatory body for port concessionaires.

Seminar participants arrived at a concensus that by dredging the navigational channels of the Eastern ports to the right depth, good rail networks, good access roads, favourable port charges and regular power supply, the ports would come alive.

Participants also noted that a national port policy should be evolved to improve and modernise the ports infrastructure that had decayed.

(NANFeatures)